Manatee Doesn't Want To Be No. 1

PREPS '93 - IN SEARCH OF SUCCESS - ORANGE

Manatee Coach Joe Kinnan Hates Being No. 1 At The Start Of The Season, But The Hurricanes Generally Come Through.

August 27, 1993|By Bill Buchalter of The Sentinel Staff

Defending Class AAAAA football champion Bradenton Manatee is not interested in being ranked No. 1, but given the school's reputation, tradition and success, it's hard to pick anyone else.

''We don't want to be No. 1,'' pleads Joe Kinnan, who has coached his alma mater to 11 consecutive district championships, eight sectional titles, six regional titles and four state championships in the past 11 years.

''Never count us out, just don't pick us,'' Kinnan said. ''We were ranked No. 1 four different times - 1984, '86, '90 and '91 - and didn't win it. The years we won we weren't ranked up there, so it's obvious we don't want to be No. 1.''

But when a Texas promotional company went looking, nationwide, for a school for a proposed three-state, four-team high school extravaganza, Manatee was the first to get a telephone call.

''This company is putting together what they call the Texas Challenge,'' Kinnan said. ''They've got it on the drawing board for 1994 and 1995. It if comes together, they would bring us and LaGrange, Ga., to Houston for season-opening games to play two Texas teams. I think they're trying to get Odessa Permian and Aldine.

''They have a $300,000 budget to fly teams out and play games on Friday and Saturday,'' he said. ''They have sponsorships, television and radio lined up. They would bring the same two teams and flip the Texas teams they would play.''

But there are some stumbling blocks, the biggest being that Texas high schools plays under NCAA rules, and Florida and Georgia play under National Federation of State High School Association rules.

The interest in Manatee demonstrates the prominence and reputation enjoyed nationally by Florida's programs in general, by Manatee in particular.

''What people tell us is we're the team in Florida,'' Kinnan said. ''There's been some great teams, some better than we have had, but we have withstood the test of time with our four championships over a 10-year period.

''We have gone 13-1, 13-1, 9-2, 12-1. That's 47-5 the last four years,'' he said, ''and 9-1, 14-0, 12-0 (with forfeit of game lost on the field), 12-2. That's 47-3 from 1982-'85. In '86 and '88, we were average, but we won the district.''

Manatee is not the only team to watch in Florida, but the Hurricanes are the ones to beat.

One of the reasons Kinnan believes his team should not be ranked No. 1 is rival Sarasota Riverview.

''They are loaded,'' Kinnan said.

College recruiters are pointing to Riverview's lineup, which includes defensive back Amp Campbell, quarterback Tim Alexander, linebackers Chris Smith and Jon Haskins and may add running back Shawn Bane if he regains his eligibility following the first grading period. Riverview doesn't play Manatee until the second grading period.

''Without him,'' coach John Sprague told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, ''we can be state contenders, and with Bane, we can be national contenders.''

All the talent and top teams aren't limited to the bigger schools. Class AAA, especially District 14, is loaded. And when Fort Pierce Central - which returns 4,000 rushing yards worth of offense from last year - goes to Glades Central in Belle Glade Nov. 5, so will ESPN's cameras to film portions of the game for Scholastic Sports America.

Other outstanding teams include Milton in Northwest Florida, Orange Park in Northeast Florida, North Miami, Miami High, Dillard and Miami Southridge in South Florida, Bradenton Southeast on the West Coast, and Daytona Beach Seabreeze, Lake Wales, Merritt Island and Vero Beach in Central Florida.